


Trust

by Serier4Ever



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: AU, Abuse, Adoption, Alternate Universe, Father-Son Relationship, Happy Ending, Kid Fic, Spencer as child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 06:26:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11053197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serier4Ever/pseuds/Serier4Ever
Summary: The team are in Las vegas on a case when they come upon a small boy with blood covered clothes. The boy is severely malnourished and badly hurt but finding him will change their life forever





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Banner made by [Jilly James](http://JillyJames.com). 

He was sitting in the small dog house in their back yard. They had never owned a dog but the small house had been there when his father bought the house and they had never bothered to take it down. At times like this Spencer was glad that they hadn't. His Mother was having an episode and had locked herself in the bedroom screaming about fascists and government spies. His father had finally grown tired of beating him, with his fists, belt and anything else he could get his hands on. When his dad seemed content, he had just shoved Spencer outside and locked the door. He was used to it by now, though it was raining and the wind made it quite chilly, he was happy that it was not worse.  
Spencer looked down at his arm, leg and stomach. There was a large gash in his left leg that was oozing blood, his arm was bent at an awkward angle and he knew that it was broken. A big spot on his stomach was turning blue. It would probably hurt for weeks to come. Yet, this was one of the better times, the beating had not been the worst and his father had rather quickly turned to the bottle instead of his six-year-old son.  
Spencer lay curled up in a fetal position when his father returned the day after. With a quick kick to the small boy’s stomach, Spencer was awake and was looking into the eyes of his father. William did not seem to care that there was a large pool of dried blood on the ground or that Spencer’s arm had swollen so that it was three times as big as it usually was. The arm was actually the size it would be on a normal, healthy child any day, but not on Spencer. He was scrawny and short. He was severely malnourished and it was a miracle that he even had the strength to get up to start on his chores. All Spencer could dream of was to be saved. He wanted to read all day in a warm chair in a warm house. He wanted to feel safe and loved. But he knew that that was just a dream. An imaginary ending to his daily suffering. Heck, it would be a miracle if he lived until he was supposed to start school after the summer. It would be a miracle if his dad had not beaten him to death before then.  
Spencer crawled out of the dog house and quickly made his way into the house. The first thing he noticed was that his mother was still in the bedroom. She was not screaming but she was not talking either. Spencer was wondering why and he got a bad feeling when his father told him not to bother making her any breakfast. After his father had left for work, Spencer walked quietly towards the white door. His mother had still not said a word and that sick feeling in his stomach was getting worse and worse. It was like he had a huge stone in his tummy. Spencer reached for the door.  
”Mom, you in there?”  
There was still no answer so he reached for the door and noticed that it was locked. After beeing locked into various places during his whole life, Spencer went to work quickly and just a few minutes later the door was open and Spencer peeked in. He did not want his mother to freak out if she was reading or writing. He did not want her to have another episode after just coming out of one. But what he saw was something much worse, so much worse. Diana was lying on the floor with a blood-soaked shirt and she was completely white. She did not move and all Spencer could do was to stop and stare for a few seconds. When his brain kicked in he broke down crying. He threw himself on her body and just held on. He did not want his mother to be gone, she was the only reason why he had held on all these years, she was his small light in this dark world. Yet, now she was dead, her body was cold and wet. Spencer did not know how long he just lay there holding the corpse of his dead mother, but when he got up his own shirt was blood-stained and Spencer did the only thing he could think of. He ran.


	2. Chapter 2

Rossi, JJ and Hotch were sitting in the black SUV, Hotch was driving and beside him in the passenger seat sat David. They had just finished a hard case in Las Vegas and were on their way to the hotel so that they could pack up. The case had been hard and the body count had come to six before they had caught the thirty-eight-year-old man. He was kidnapping and raping men from the age of 16 to 54, he did not care how old they were, the only thing he cared about was that they visited a gay bar. The sixteen-year-old had never even been inside, he had just walked by at the wrong time. He had been followed and snatched just a few minutes later and then brought to the man’s cabin where he had been raped before he was shot in the groin and head, just like all the others.  
Everyone in the car was deep in their own thoughts when Rossi suddenly shouted, ”Hotch, stop!”  
”What is it, Dave?” Hotch asked at the same time as he hit the breaks.  
”Isn´t that a little kid there? Running with a bloody shirt?”  
”Yes, oh my God! He can´t be older than four. What is a little boy like that doing outside on his own?”JJ asked when she too had noticed the small child.  
He was just a couple of meters from the car when Hotch turned it off. It was only now that the small child seemed to notice that he was not alone.  
No, he was standing just a few meters away from a very large car with two men in it. When Spencer noticed the car he ran as fast as possible towards safety, the problem being that he had no idea where ´safety´ was.  
Rossi was the fasted out of the car and ran after the clearly scared and hurt child.  
”Hey kid, stop! We are not going to hurt you.”  
Spencer’s leg was hurting and he did not think he would be able to run much more. He had already been out on the run for at least an hour and his whole body was aching. His leg, his arm, his head but most of all, his heart.  
He was scared, alone and tired, so he decided to do the only thing his body had the strength to do. He gave up. Spencer got down on his knees and put his back against a big tree. He could see that three people had followed his short run. All three were grown-ups, one woman and two men. The woman was kind-looking, though she had a sad look in her eyes. Her body was slightly relaxed and Spencer could see that she was doing everything in here power not to scare him. The two men were a different story, though both kept a non-threatening posture. One guy looked like maybe 45, he was in a black suit with a red tie. He had black hair and his face was tainted. Like he had seen too much, yet he was trying to smile a little at him. The other guy, an older looking man, maybe 55-60, looked more kind, but there was also something grim on his face and Spencer knew why. The Italian looking man had seen the blood on him, probably even the swollen arm. Spencer winced when suddenly the older man approached him.  
”Hey kid, just take it easy. We are not going to hurt you. We just want to talk. Okay?”  
Spencer looked at the man, the words seemed sincere and his voice was soothing. Then something sparked in his eyes when his brain finally recognized the man. It was David Rossi, THE David Rossi.  
Dave could see the wheels turning in the boy’s head, then suddenly his head shot up.  
”You are David Rossi, right?”  
”Yes I am, you know about me?”  
”I read your book, the first one, I think.”  
”Wow kid, you have read my book? Where did you read that?”  
”My dad bought it to figure out how to be a better defence attorney.”  
Dave could feel the looks that Hotch and JJ were sending each other. A four-year-old should not be reading books about serial killers, mutilated bodies and all the other gruesome stuff that was in his books. He also felt a bit guilty, he had not written the books to help attorneys make guilty men go free, he had written it to help the police catch the criminals.  
”And you read it? How old are you son?”  
”I am not your son and why does my age matter?”  
”I’m Sorry if I offended you, it is just a saying. Where I come from it is just a way to address a young boy. I just wanted to know your age, why don´t you want to share it?”  
”Are you from Italy? I never said that I did not want to tell you. I just asked why you wanted to know.”  
”How did you know that I am from Italy? Okay then, my mistake. So how old are you?”  
”You said that calling me son was just something that everyone did where you grew up. Even though it is common to use it as a sign of endearment in some states it is not very common in the US. You also have a European look so I just drew that conclusion. Oh, and I am almost seven.”  
”Wow, that is really impressive, kid. So... You know my name, what is yours?”  
Spencer was hesitant to tell his name to these three strangers. He did not know them and he was afraid of going back to his father. What if they would bring him there? He would be dead before the sunset this afternoon. Yet these people seemed kind, trustworthy. So Spencer gambled.  
”Spencer Reid," he said in a quiet voice, it was just above a whisper. But in the silent park Rossi, Hotch and JJ heard it clearly.  
”Hello, Spencer, it is nice to meet you. As you know, my name is David Rossi, but just call me Dave. This guy behind me is Aaron Hotchner, but you can call him Hotch. And the nice woman standing behind me is Jeniffer but you can just call her JJ. So what is an almost seven-year-old boy doing running around outside all by himself?”  
Spencer froze. Should he tell them the truth? What was the truth? Yet again, he put the cons and pros against each other.They seemed like kind people but could he trust them?  
”You work for the FBI, right?” Spencer asked in a low voice.

Spencer asked in a low voice.  
”Yes, Spencer, I do. In fact, all three of us are FBI agents.”  
”So if I told you something, would you tell the police? I mean the FBI does not care about children like me.”  
”That depends on what you tell me, but believe me when I say that we do care about you and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you are safe and taken care of.”  
Spencer just had to think for a few seconds before he made his choice.


	3. Chapter 3

”Ehh.. I kind of ran away from home,”Spencer said timidly.  
”Why did you run away? And where does the blood come from? Are you hurt?”  
”I think that most of the blood is from mom, some probably is from me but I would estimate that 78.76 % is from my mom.”  
Spencer chose to use percent and facts to put himself out of the situation he was in. If he could just put his brain before his heart this would go much easier, he thought.  
”Is your mother okay Spencer? Does she need help?”  
”My mom is dead.”  
The agents looked at each other in shock and then their eyes went back to the small child when they heard a soft whimper. Spencer was quietly crying. The tears were rolling down his abused face and in that moment he did not look like he was seven, he did not even look like he was six. If Dave had had to guess, he would have said four.  
Like on instinct Rossi bent forward and brought the crying child into his arms. Spencer flinched away in the beginning but after a few seconds, he let himself relax in the warm and loving arms of this man. A man he had never met was giving him the love his father never had.  
”Shhh, kid, it´s alright. Just let it all out, I got you.”  
They sat like that for several minutes. Spencer was quietly sniffling into David’s now wet shirt. He held his arm protectively against his body, his legs were draped over Rossi’s own as he was cradling Spencer like a father would his child.  
When Spencer managed to compose himself, he moved his head so that it was resting against the agent’s shoulder instead of shoved into his chest. He did not want to leave this warm embrace. He was cold and scared and the man brought him warmth and comfort.  
When the older man started to talk again without even trying to move him, Spencer allowed himself to snuggle into the warmth that was David Rossi.  
”Soo, you starting to feel okay, kid?" Dave asked Spencer when his body had stopped shaking and he had started to snuggle into his body, instead of just shoving his face into his shoulder.

”Yes, thank you. I am sorry about making your shirt wet. You don´t have to hold me, you know, that will just make your shirt wetter and I don´t want it to get ruined.”  
”Hey now kid, stop with that. You let me worry about my shirt. Do you want to be put down?”  
When after a while Spencer still had not answered Rossi asked again.  
”Spencer, do you want me to put you down? You have to let me know because I don´t have anything against holding you all day and night. But if you are uncomfortable or want me to back off, I will. But YOU have to make the decision.”  
Spencer was quiet for a few seconds more until a soft answer was heard.  
”Stay.”  
”Okay, no problem. So... you said that some of the blood came from you. Where are you hurt?”  
”Ehh, I think that my arm is broken, and I have a small laceration on my leg. It´s nothing.”  
”You let me decide that kid. Is it okay if I take a look at your leg? So that I can see if you need to go to the hospital. I promise to be gentle.”  
Spencer chose not to answer he just bent down and with his good arm pulled up his shorts so that the big cut was visible.  
He had never liked shorts. In fact, he hated them, but his father wanted a normal son. And since it was summer, he was going to have shorts and a t-shirt like every other boy.  
The anger on Hotch, JJ and Rossi´s faces was visible. They all had a suspicion about who had put their hands on this small and fragile child. But they had to hear it from the boy himself so that they could go and arrest this scum of a father.  
”Spencer, this looks like it hurts a lot, and I think that we have to get you to a hospital so that a doctor can look at it and maybe stitch it up. Okay?”  
”NO! I don´t want to go to a hospital, I can manage, I have had A LOT worse and I did not go then, so why should I go now?”  
”Kid, that is a pretty big cut and it is still bleeding. If I make a guess, I would say that it is from last night or so? Is that correct? And if it has been bleeding for that long we really need to make it stop, so that you don´t lose too much blood.”  
”Yes, it´s from last night. But it has not been bleeding since then. It just started again when I ran.”  
”Okay, that´s good. But we still have to get that stitched up, or you will look like Frankenstein put your leg on," Rossi said to try and lighten the mood.

Spencer did show a small smile on his face, but he was fighting so hard not to start rambling facts about how it was statistically impossible to look like that, and how Frankenstein was just a story. But he did not know these people. They seemed nice and he needed their support. He needed Dave.  
”Spencer, who gave you those nasty looking cuts and bruises?" Hotch asked, for the first time saying something since they arrived.  
Rossi was the only one Spencer had been talking to and he had totally forgotten that they were not alone. So when he heard his name he was startled by the new voice for a moment, but he soon settled back down in the warm embrace when he noticed who had spoken.  
Spencer stayed quiet. He did not want to end up in foster care. He just wanted to stay in the loving embrace for the rest of his life.  
”Spencer, please tell me who hurt you. I promise that I will do everything in my power to help you. You just have to tell me who it is so that we can act,”Dave told him in a kind but anxious voice.”You can´t help me. You will be gone as soon as I tell you everything, and then you will go back to Virginia and I will be stuck in foster care," Spencer said, then added in a quiet voice, "and I don´t want you to leave.”

 

Rossi was saddened to hear the boy’s words, but when he heard the boy’s quiet voice say that he did not want him to leave, he could feel the lump in his throat grow bigger. Then he made a quick decision that would change his life forever.


	4. Chapter 4

”Hey son, I can and I WILL help you, you just have to trust me! And about me leaving, I don´t want to do that without you. Maybe we can come up with some arrangement. Or what do you say?”  
Spencer was so shocked and confused now, and he was afraid to get his hopes up. Maybe Dave did not mean what Spencer thought that he meant.  
”What do you mean?”  
”I mean that I don´t want to go without you. I know that I can´t make any promises to you that it will happen. But I can promise that I will do everything in my power so that it will. I´ll do ANYTHING so that you can come with me so that you can have a better life. You are an extraordinary kid and it would be my honor if I could adopt you, or even just be your foster parent. That is if you want me to?”  
Spencer went completely still, he did not dare to move in fear of waking up and realising it was all just another dream.  
Hotch was so shocked that he barely remembered to breathe. He knew that Rossi always had wanted a child, and even had one. But after that child had died all of his hopes had died with it. His and Caroline’s relationship had soon just been a memory and Dave had never spoken about children again. And now he was talking about adopting this small, abused child that clearly was intelligent. He was talking about becoming the father of a kid he had just met. Of course, Aaron was happy for him, he knew that Rossi would be a great father, and he also knew that the child would be spoiled rotten. And from what he knew so far about Spencer, he was just the one that deserved to be spoiled.  
JJ was just as surprised to hear the words that came out of Dave’s mouth and just hoped that he was honest. He could not NOT mean what he said to this fragile kid. But then again JJ was sure that he was sincere and that he actually wanted to become a permanent presence in Spencer´s life. He wanted to raise him like his own child. He wanted to be a father.  
After a while in complete silence Spencer finally spoke.  
”Do you mean that?”  
”YES, of course I mean it! You are a precious boy and it would be my honor. You just have to trust me to help you. Like I said, I can´t promise that you will come with me but I CAN promise that you will get a good life, I WILL make sure of that. And I can promise that I will do everything and anything so that you DO end up in my care, and if that by some tragic circumstance doesn´t happen, I will keep in touch and I will make sure that you end up somewhere nice, where you are treated like you should have been since day one when you were born.  
Spencer choked on his words and just started to cry again. He buried his face into the warm embrace and just let himself relax. He let himself hope for a better life.  
After just being rocked by David for several minutes he could finally say what he had wanted to do for so long  
”My dad. It was my dad.”  
”Has he always beaten you?”  
”Yes.”  
”Okay, thank you, Spencer. We will get you out of there. But first we have to get you to the hospital and get that ugly looking wound stitched up, then we will talk to social services and the police. If they say that it is okay, you can spend the night in our hotel. If you don´t want to share a room, I can get you one of your own, but if you want, there is an extra bed in my room that has your name written all over it.”  
”No, it doesn´t.”  
”It doesn´t what?”  
”It does not have my name written on it, that would just be weird and I doubt that someone would have written it there without the maids taking it away, and I have never heard of duvets with the name Spencer written on it. But I guess that it is possible...”  
Rossi, Hotch and JJ could not hold back their laughter at that comment.  
”No, I guess it is not literally written on there, I was meaning figuratively.”  
”Ohh, I am sorry.”  
”No problem, son. Now, what do you say about getting off this cold ground and into that nice and warm car? I PROMISE that I won’t leave you out of my sight in the hospital and I will be with you through it all. Do you trust me, Spencer?”  
He was still so amazed that maybe one day he would actually be his son that it took a while for Spencer’s brain to process that Dave had asked a question. But he did not even have to think about the answer. Of course he trusted him.  
”Okay, we can go to the hospital. But you can’t leave me, and you can’t let them call my dad!”  
”I promise that I won’t leave you, and Hotch and JJ will go to the hotel and pick up the rest of our team then go straight to your house to arrest your father. He will NEVER again be able to put his hands on you!”  
When David mentioned his home, realisation hit Spencer. His mother was dead, and here he was feeling happy. What was wrong with him?  
”My mom...”  
Realisation hit the three FBI agents, too.  
”We will take care of that, too. You just rest kid. Do you want me to carry you to the car? That way you won’t hurt your leg.”  
”Yes, please," Spencer said in a quiet voice. Then he was being lifted off the ground and carried to the black SUV. He did not once let go of Dave’s shirt, and Rossi did not seem to mind. 

When they got to the car, JJ opened the door for Rossi and then slipped into the passenger seat. Dave sat Spencer down on the seat in the middle, but when he heard him whimper and saw him shake, he took off his jacket and put it around Spencer, who was fast to snuggle into the warmth and soothing smell.  
Rossi smiled at the content smile on his face and then buckled up both him and Spencer. They were soon on their way to the nearest hospital while JJ was texting the others. Dave was pretty sure he had both missed calls and messages from the team, wondering where they were.


	5. Chapter 5

Spencer stayed quiet the whole way to the hospital and the only time that he moved was to remove the pressure from his injured leg.   
Hotch was getting concerned, both for Rossi and his attachment to Spencer and how the Reid boy seemed so far down in the abyss, that he was concerned for not only his physical health but also his mental state.   
As the drive to the hospital continued, everybody in the car stayed silent. All deep in their own thoughts. Rossi was reflecting on how to present his case, it would probably involve a lot of favors to get the process sped up so that he could fly home with his new son.   
Son, that was such a strange thing to say. It was possible that he would have a son in a few days and to say that he was excited was an understatement. But he was afraid to get his hopes up. What if they did not see him fit to be a parent? What if he wasn't?  
The car stopped and Aaron removed the keys from the ignition and suddenly all of them returned to reality. The truth was that Spencer would have to give his testimony, he would have to tell social services and the police everything he had been through. The beginning of the end of his suffering was hopefully here, but the end seemed so far away.   
Spencer looked up when he felt the car come to a stop. What he saw, scared him down to his bones. In front of the car was the red sign, he had seen so many times before, but to actually be here and all that it meant came crashing down on him.  
Rossi could feel how Spencer started shaking.  
”It's all right, Spencer. Everything will be all right and I will be with you through it all.”  
”Do you promise?”  
”Yes, I promise. And when we go in there to get you leg looked at, Hotch and JJ will go and arrest your father so that he can't ever hurt you again.”  
Spencer took a deep breath, looked at David and then at Hotch before saying, ”All right, let’s go.”  
”That's my son,” Rossi said with a smile.  
As soon as both of them were out of the car, Spencer held up his arms and Rossi was fast to oblige, before walking into the warmth with the precious cargo in his arms.

Several hours later found an exhausted Rossi in a hospital room with a sleeping boy in the bed next to him. The last few hours had been tiring. During Spencer’s examination, he had suffered an anxiety attack and later during the interview he had broken down crying. Fortunately, both his social worker and the police had been there, that way he would not have to go through it all again.   
After the interview and some comforting from Dave, Spencer had fallen asleep and Rossi could have his talk with his social worker, Marge. Fortunately, she had been really understanding after Dave had explained the whole case. She even seemed a bit pleased when he told her about how he wanted to adopt Spencer if possible. Apparently, it was extremely difficult to find people willing to adopt a child over the age of four, especially when they came from a troubled background.   
Marge did explain that it would take some time to get it all sorted and that even if he was given temporary custody, he would have to go through several home visits and meetings, both with her before leaving the state and later social services in Virginia. After some more talking, Marge left to start processing Spencer's case and Rossi returned to his room.   
A few minutes later Dave got the text he had been waiting for. William Reid had been arrested and was now in police custody. During the arrest they had even found blood from both Spencer and Diana on him. This had resulted in William admitting to what he had done in return for life in a medium security prison.   
Dave turned to his right and had a look at Spencer. He seemed so small in that bed, tucked in under several blankets and with a big cast on his arm. Rossi had promised to sign it later. Hopefully he would be able to sign it with ”Love, Dad”.


	6. Chapter 6

The last few days had been a blur for Rossi, it had been never ending paperwork and meetings. Spencer had been anxious, scared and excited all at once and the big moment was finally here. Marge had arrived with the final paperwork making David Rossi, Spencer Reid’s legal guardian. It had been a battle with Reid’s dad to get him to sign away his legal rights to Spencer, but when Hotch together with Marge told the judge about Spencer’s case it only took a few minutes before they had the paperwork that would make it possible for Rossi to adopt Spencer. Now the only thing that was needed were some home visits and for Dave to give them his plan on how to take care of Spencer. However Dave had already talked to both Aaron and Cruz regarding his plan to only be a consultant and to teach at the academy. That way, he would be able to stay home with Spencer and take him to and from school every day. Cruz had been extremely surprised by the fact that Rossi was adopting, but had in the end been as happy for him as everyone else. And the papers were quickly filed.   
It took another three days before Spencer was released and the team could head home. During these few days, all of them had fallen in love with Spencer and he had them all wrapped around his fingers. Both his big brain and amazingly big hard contributed to the stream of gifts and hugs for the small child.   
After consulting with Spencer it had been decided that Diana should be cremated and spread out around this big tree a few miles from their house. Diana had loved being there and all of Spencer's favorite memories with his mother came from there. However, since Reid had still not been released at the moment when her ashes were to be spread, a nurse had come with them. All in all, it had been a beautiful day, the sun was out and Spencer had gotten the closure he needed. Now, twenty-four hours after the memorial, Spencer was sitting on the jet, surrounded by the people he had come to love and he was sitting next to his dad.  
”Are you scared of flying Spencer ?" JJ asked when she noticed how white Spencer had become after they started moving down the tarmac.  
”Yeah, maybe a little,” he answered quietly. ”Can you hold my hand Dad?”  
David was shocked. Spencer had never called him dad before but it felt amazing. It felt right. They may have a long way before the adoption was final but Dave knew that he would never let go of Spencer.  
So he took Spencer’s hand and felt it squeeze as the plane lifted and they were on their way home.  
The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this and I hope that you liked it. I am thinking about continuing this later on but wanted to know what you all think? Should I do another story where we get to follow Spencer growing up with Rossi?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much NimueOfTheNorth for making this possible by taking your time to fix all my errors. And thank you Jilly James for the amazing art!


End file.
